COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on the world economy and is likely to fundamentally change the global political landscape, thus affecting the future of human society. Against this backdrop, we need to find out how to drive the transformation of global governance, maintain a sound and stable world order, and better build the community of shared future for mankind, said Xu Xiaodong, vice president of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, at a video conference about the global landscape and COVID-19.

Wang Shaoguang, a professor of the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University, said that researchers in the field of public policy need to pay special attention to the topic of “decision-making under deeply uncertain conditions.” COVID-19 has set off alarm bells for the human race, and for the next three decades, uncertainties like this are going to resurge frequently and internationally.

Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China (RUC), said that China has been passing through a challenging internal and external environment over the past three decades. To solve this problem, Chinese scholars need to make their voice heard in the international arena.

“Once the pandemic is over, the global economy and politics will have changed greatly,” said Zhou Xiaojing, a research fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at RUC. Zhou said that in a century of unprecedented changes, we need to stick to the concept of “a community of shared future for mankind,” which has been firmly upheld by China in its battle against the virus. The fact that China has been vigorously advocating for international cooperation in epidemic prevention and control shows how the country stands firm in regard to safeguarding world peace and driving world development. China has shed light on the right path towards a multi-polarized world after the pandemic, that is, to jointly build a community of shared future for mankind.

Second, the process of globalization is irreversible. The pandemic has put the world economy in dire danger of depression. To prevent such an outcome will require the joint forces of all countries. One country alone cannot achieve it. Practice has proven that economic globalization is the key driving force of world economic growth. While working towards the liberalization of trade, countries also need to push economic globalization towards a peaceful, open and inclusive development. Meanwhile, we also need to make full preparations in case of a more complex and grim international landscape, said Zhou.